Assassin Crow Evolution

Jimmy was occupied with his self-given task, trying his best to stalk the Chief.

Zoey grew more and more frustrated by the fact that Jimmy had barely paid any attention to her throughout the day. In other words, they were both distracted.

Julia was the first one who noticed that Vorin was trapped in the village’s food storage.

She said, "I think your brother’s in trouble there."

"How?" He snapped out of it, and turned around, "Did he peck a villager? No... he wouldn’t do that."

Jimmy didn’t know what he was looking at once he turned around. His whistling stomach weighed down on his concentration as well.

"Where is he?" He asked.

"In that muddy hill over there," She said, "The one with the bick rock."

"He got himself trapped?" He sighed, "I swear to God, he’s becoming more restless than me everyday! How on Earth did he end up there?"

"He didn’t say, but I think he was trying to get you some food." She explained.

Jimmy’s guilt hit him like a truck. He didn’t feel it often, since he was ridiculed as soon as he popped into this world, and now, in the rare occasion where he did feel guilt, it was no light emotion. It was cranked to the max!

"I don’t know if we can get him out of there without alerting the entire village," He said, his brain fuzzy from the hunger.

Zoey, having found the opportunity to be dramatic, lightly cawed, so as to grab his attention without begging for it.

"Any ideas?" He turned to her.

"Why are you looking at me?" Zoey said, "You’re a big, tough bird. I bet you can push that rock with one leg."

"What’s your deal?" He asked, innocently, "Are you hungry too?"

"Why would I get hungry, or tired?" She snarked, "It’s not like we’ve been baking in the sun all day. How could I dare to complain?"

"Am I hallucinating or something?" He said, "You never miss an opportunity to complain."

This conversation could’ve gone on forever. An immovable object would have a hard time slowing down an unstoppable force.

Julia interrupted their bickering early on, as she added, "That young man is trapped in there, and like any crow, he’s afraid of the dark. Do any of you actually have a plan on getting him out?"

"I’m not afraid of the dark," Jimmy said, "I can see very well in the dark."

Certainly, the recent bickering melted through the small caloric reserves he had left. He was getting more and more irrational by the minute.

Zoey decided not to engage this time, and instead, she flew towards the food storage.

She landed on the boulder that sealed the storage, and started clawing at it. One would think that she was getting ready to split the boulder in half, like some over-powered Goddess, but for a solid minute, nothing happened.

She walked around the top side of the boulder, inspecting every nook and cranny.

At last, she slapped the boulder with her claw, but again, it did not break in half. Despite being irritated, she respected Jimmy’s wish to avoid alerting the villagers.

Her little, seemingly insignificant smack, moved the boulder by a couple of inches.

Afterwards, she inspected the area once more, and figured out that it was not enough.

From within the storage room, Vorin was anxious when he saw a crack of light slipping through the entrance. He feared that the villagers had heard him somehow, and had doubled-back just to beat the life out of him. He saw them use nets earlier, for fishing, and in this case, he almost expected to be netted.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

When the boulder moved again, his heart started beating faster. Under those conditions, logic was supposed to be outside the realm of his grasp, and yet it wasn’t.

"Something’s not right here," He let out a few, low caws, as if to whisper, "Don’t humans have quick footsteps? They’re usually very loud... why am I not hearing anything at all?"

The crack of light across the entrance looked like it featured enough space for him to slip through. He had two skills to his name, and one of them could propel him forward as quick as a snake’s strike, and yet he was hesitant.

"What if they have nets?" He aggressively tapped his foot on the fish, anxious.

The boulder moved again. His confusion deepened.

At last, he gained the courage to walk forward, slowly, hoping to use the overall darkness of the room to camouflage himself in the far corners of the building, if a human was to walk in.

All of a sudden, a crow poked its head from the top side of the entrance, giving him the fright of a lifetime!

"Aah!" He screamed, his voice high-pitched.

Then, he tried to save some face, clearing his throat, and letting out a deeper grumble, "Uuh."

"Come on, little girl," Zoey said, "You’re safe."

Vorin wanted to come up with a hundred different excuses to save himself from the embarrassment, but he chose to stay quiet. He didn’t want to dig a deeper hole for himself.

Instead, he grabbed a fish, one he was absolutely sure he could lift, crawled out of the building, and then took off without saying another word.

Once he landed on the rooftop where the rest of the team was at, he turned back, and said, "Darn, I didn’t think she could move that rock."

"I forgot she could lift stuff altogether," Jimmy said, "I hate how much my brain is dependent on my stomach. I feel like I lost 80 IQ points already."

"Eye-Q?" Vorin parroted.

Despite their shared confusion, he still passed the fish to his brother. He could tell that he was eyeballing the succulent, nearly fresh meal.

Jimmy chowed down on it, pecking away one-hundred grams of meat at a time, and did not care to elaborate on the abbreviations he waffled through. He liked how cold the fish was, and appreciated that it wasn’t stinky.

In the meantime, Zoey slapped the boulder back into place. She was cautious about it, moving it a few inches at a time, so as to not attract attention.

Virena watched the team in confusion. She picked up on the language of the crows over time, some of it at least, but for the most part, she felt that their shenanigans were best left uninterrupted, especially today, where they spent most of their time stalking the humans.

"Maybe we shouldn’t fly so far away from home anymore? I’m getting too old for this." She said, "I should spend the rest of my life sitting on a flower, or a tree. I hear that’s what my ancestors used to do."

Jimmy tore off a piece of meat, offered it to her, and said, "Your talents would be wasted if you sat on a flower all day. Stick around, babysitting us can’t be too much trouble."

"I’m done babysitting," She said, though she knew that it was nowhere close to the truth, "The sun is messing with my shell out here. I’m used to hiding in our city’s shades."

"You can hide in the shades here as well," He argued, "Or hide under my belly."

"I don’t want to get pooped on," She said.

"I don’t poop out of my belly," He tried to make a case for himself, "I have an all-in-one Cloaca."

"No thank you," She insisted.